Posted by randy albin
a resident of another community
on Aug 26, 2013 at 10:31 am

maybe there once was affordable housing in menlo park. there's alot to work with here in this discussion. make the bay area tolerable once again or face unpleasantness smong the citizens. affordable housing? where?

Housing costs have always been based on supply & demand. Why is it necessary or beneficial to create an artificially low price point for housing people who can't afford to live where they want to live. Public employees, as in police, firefighters, emts, and teachers can & do live here. They shouldn't have to indirectly subsidize others who make less money.

Are we trying to house unskilled manual laborers & household domestics? Many of those tasks, such as mowing lawns, mopping floors, washing windows, etc. could be done by teens who actually want to work for money.

Atherton, Hillsborough, Woodside, Belvedere, Ross, Tiburon - all lovely places to live which are way out of my price range. Is that society's fault so that a gov't has to compel neighbors to offer me something I might have been able to afford if I'd made different career or marital partner choices? Just plain "No!"

The "affordable housing" requests are directly contrary to standard accepted advice to "Live within your means." If I can't afford to shop at Draeger's or Roberts, there's always Safeway. Same thing. There are plenty of other places to go that are less expensive than MP. So don't whine & beg, just go.

I realize this is heresy in this time of affluence, but Menlo Park is promoting unaffordable housing by not counting the square footage in residential basements. Originally this space wasn't counted to encourage single story above ground. Now it seems that many houses, especially those built by developers, are built to the maximum above ground and underground.